Is now the time to purchase a holiday home abroad?

Good advice there Lep but I would add one more rule,

Rule No 11:- Dont think of the property as a holiday home for a couple of weeks every year but more of a second home that you could live in for longer periods of time.
It might seem great now to buy a place in a complex with pools, bars and shops all within earshot while you have young kids but is that property going to be suitable for you when the kids aren't around.
 
it sounds like less of an investment and more of a lifestyle purchase ( nothing wrong with that ) , if you consider the amount of capital needed , were you to invest that money in the stock market and leave it there for ten or twenty years , id imagine the return would be greater , if the difference is great enough to cover the cost of a holiday each year wherever you choose , id be of the view buying a holiday home is not a great investment , different story if you want a home away from home and as the years go by , intend to spend more and more time in a sunnier climate

like i said i think its a lifestyle purchase primarily
 
I have often looked at local properties on Portuguese / Spanish real estate. Plenty 1/2 bed little apartments in the towns many with a sea view and within walking distance to beach. Perfect if you like sun, good cheap food and would like to have a place to go and leave to your kids. I'm out of work and have 20K+ in savings which will just wittle away in this hi cost damp country. Is it worth (knowing the area) to go for one of these. This is how it would work out roughly, But would an Irish bank loan you / can you get a european loan. Is this dead in the water ? like to hear your views. Or what is the best to do with 20k before it's gone? Thanks.
  • Total cost 63.310 €
  • Apart cost 50'000 €
  • Deposit 19.000 €
  • Required:39.490 €
  • Interést :4.819 €
  • Term 20yrs
  • Rate 1,20%
  • Monthly 184€
 
Last edited:
Interesting proposition. How would you get a mortgage/unsecured loan if you're out of work? How would it be at 1.2%?
 
Well Slim that is the problem here, probably not get a mortgage in Ireland. The figures above are from a European bank and they probably have the same lending criteria. 20K is not a lot of cash but what other options are there other than buy a small apt in the sun for future use. Credit union would give a loan maybe but that would be higher %.
 
The Glory Days are back . . . somebody who is unemployed looking to purchase a holiday home abroad.
 
Sarenco said:
Yup. And a discussion on another thread about buying in Belfast.

It's all starting to sound very 2006 around these parts...
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SDMXTWO said:
I have often looked at local properties on Portuguese / Spanish real estate. Plenty 1/2 bed little apartments in the towns many with a sea view and within walking distance to beach. Perfect if you like sun, good cheap food and would like to have a place to go and leave to your kids. I'm out of work and have 20K+ in savings which will just wittle away in this hi cost damp country. Is it worth (knowing the area) to go for one of these. This is how it would work out roughly, But would an Irish bank loan you / can you get a european loan. Is this dead in the water ? like to hear your views. Or what is the best to do with 20k before it's gone? Thanks.
  • Total cost 63.310 €
  • Apart cost 50'000 €
  • Deposit 19.000 €
  • Required:39.490 €
  • Interést :4.819 €
  • Term 20yrs
  • Rate 1,20%
  • Monthly 184€
Click to expand...


was in majorca a few weeks ago and prices are anything but cheap on that island , place has more real estate office units than coffee shops , spain seems to be worse for boom bust than we are , property was everywhere and a huge amount of refurbishment going on
 
Leper said:
The Glory Days are back . . . somebody who is unemployed looking to purchase a holiday home abroad.
Click to expand...
More of a, I can't afford to live here and own a sellable house, so no need to be too cynical. People should wake up to the fact that they just live to pay a mortgage and are completely owned by debt. I would'nt exactly class that as a great life.
 
But you will still need employment to get a mortgage from a bank and an income to live in Spain or is the "Sellable House" the answer to all your problems
 
SDMXTWO said:
I have often looked at local properties on Portuguese / Spanish real estate. Plenty 1/2 bed little apartments in the towns many with a sea view and within walking distance to beach. Perfect if you like sun, good cheap food and would like to have a place to go and leave to your kids. I'm out of work and have 20K+ in savings which will just wittle away in this hi cost damp country. Is it worth (knowing the area) to go for one of these. This is how it would work out roughly, But would an Irish bank loan you / can you get a european loan. Is this dead in the water ? like to hear your views. Or what is the best to do with 20k before it's gone? Thanks.
  • Total cost 63.310 €
  • Apart cost 50'000 €
  • Deposit 19.000 €
  • Required:39.490 €
  • Interést :4.819 €
  • Term 20yrs
  • Rate 1,20%
  • Monthly 184€
Click to expand...

Don't forget to add on yearly insurance, water bills, sewerage bills, electricity bills, wear and tear, management fees, security and vandalism costs, shared complex fees if other apartments are on the complex, eg, lifts, swimmimg pool, lighting, etc, and i'm sure there's a few that I haven't mentioned. These are all very real, have to be paid and cost hard earned cash.
 
Just to add... If you have money you want to invest,there are plenty funds,shares etc to put your money into,
If you want a place to go on holidays,phone Falcon (TUI) Mercury Direct etc.
NEVER mix the two,its just not a good idea because I have been that soldier!

Pat
 
The financial state of Ireland and Spain (and even Bulgaria etc) is changing favourably by the year. It could not have got much worse than at the start of the recession. Let's face it the main argument for purchasing a holiday home in sunnier climes is our weather and most of us would like to spend several months in coastal Med countries (mainly Spain) during Irish winters. Many craved retirement so that the autumn of our lives could be spent in warmer regions. Therefore, those of us with mortgages paid off in our forties (we Irish used to get married in our early 20's, nowadays the blushing bride is in her late 30's facing into paying a mortgage to her mid/late 60's)the next major investment appeared to be the south of Spain. Many of us jumped at the idea as we thought property values would never decrease and there was always somebody where you worked just bought abroad. If they could do it, you could.

You can make money investing in a holiday home abroad, but you need:- (i) much luck. (ii) a trustful person to look after and clean your holiday home. (iii) rentals in the off season i.e. mid September to end May (iv) amount of back-up money for wear-and-tear, community fees, utilities, Spanish taxes (you pay public lighting tax, even if you don't use refuse you still pay the fees etc) and a plethora of other taxes.

What you bought for your entertainment becomes another job and you have got to spend some time every week at it, advertising, following enquiries, even replacing the washing machine from 1200 miles becomes a chore. You have to pay Spanish bills too. Lost keys by renters brings you back to trusting 3rd parties. A gobshite unable to trawl through SKY properly rings you from abroad and suddenly you're calling in the local Spanish tv company who can charge what they like. You just hope your rentals will look after these and other costs. The first guy to rent our apartment in Spain caused €1500 worth of furniture damage in a week, sang offensive rebel songs loudly and nightly from the terrace, threw a party that lasted the whole week and broke glass all over the communal lawns and to cap it off vomited down the terrace wall onto my retired neighbours underneath. I was not too popular with my Brit neighbours for some time after.

You can rent a good two bedroom holiday home in a good location in the south of Spain for around €600 per month. Why would you buy? You can rent for less, but know your Spain!
 
Leper said:
The financial state of Ireland and Spain (and even Bulgaria etc) is changing favourably by the year. It could not have got much worse than at the start of the recession. Let's face it the main argument for purchasing a holiday home in sunnier climes is our weather and most of us would like to spend several months in coastal Med countries (mainly Spain) during Irish winters. Many craved retirement so that the autumn of our lives could be spent in warmer regions. Therefore, those of us with mortgages paid off in our forties (we Irish used to get married in our early 20's, nowadays the blushing bride is in her late 30's facing into paying a mortgage to her mid/late 60's)the next major investment appeared to be the south of Spain. Many of us jumped at the idea as we thought property values would never decrease and there was always somebody where you worked just bought abroad. If they could do it, you could.

You can make money investing in a holiday home abroad, but you need:- (i) much luck. (ii) a trustful person to look after and clean your holiday home. (iii) rentals in the off season i.e. mid September to end May (iv) amount of back-up money for wear-and-tear, community fees, utilities, Spanish taxes (you pay public lighting tax, even if you don't use refuse you still pay the fees etc) and a plethora of other taxes.

What you bought for your entertainment becomes another job and you have got to spend some time every week at it, advertising, following enquiries, even replacing the washing machine from 1200 miles becomes a chore. You have to pay Spanish bills too. Lost keys by renters brings you back to trusting 3rd parties. A gobshite unable to trawl through SKY properly rings you from abroad and suddenly you're calling in the local Spanish tv company who can charge what they like. You just hope your rentals will look after these and other costs. The first guy to rent our apartment in Spain caused €1500 worth of furniture damage in a week, sang offensive rebel songs loudly and nightly from the terrace, threw a party that lasted the whole week and broke glass all over the communal lawns and to cap it off vomited down the terrace wall onto my retired neighbours underneath. I was not too popular with my Brit neighbours for some time after.

You can rent a good two bedroom holiday home in a good location in the south of Spain for around €600 per month. Why would you buy? You can rent for less, but know your Spain!
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is housing all that cheap in spain ? , spent a week in pollenca majorca at beginning of september and i saw nothing remotely cheap , tonnes of estate agents on every street so the adds were pretty much in my face and impossible not to notice
 
galway_blow_in said:
is housing all that cheap in spain ? , spent a week in pollenca majorca at beginning of september and i saw nothing remotely cheap , tonnes of estate agents on every street so the adds were pretty much in my face and impossible not to notice
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That's the Balearic's you're talking about. Most here are talking about the Costa's, etc, on mainland Spain.
 
GBI - Rental and Purchase property on the Costas have been on an alltime low for the past ten years. Like Noproblem sated the Mallorca (Majorca) is the exception.
 
My aunt owns a place in the south of France. Her husband spends a lot of time there. They don't rent it out but the entire family use it. The only thing is that the flights to Nice can be curtailed giving little choice. I do recall reading an article about some area where people had bought holiday homes and then the airport closed....think was somewhere in Spain.
 
Don’t purchase any holiday home unless you consider it a life style change. I own a private holiday home letting website and often see owners purchasing beautiful properties for investment, after time the novelty wears off and because they hadn’t fully engaged in the lifestyle many difficulties arise.
 
Think that was Turkey amtc. Know someone that bought somewhere in turkey that Ryanair flew to but then they cancelled the service. Have a long trek now through London and Istanbul.
 
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